Substance addiction has devastating effects on the user and those around them—families of addicted individuals are the most affected. The effects of drug addiction can be both short-term and long-term, and having a drug addict in a family result in several tremendous consequences. Some of these consequences include fear and confusion within the family, emotional and physical abuse of other family members, financial problems, increased stress, and loss of trust. This paper reviews the referenced sources and discusses how reliance on drugs affects the rest of the family.
The first effective drug addiction to families is that it can divide and strain peaceful families. This could happen due to the loss of trust between family members and the addict when they find out about the addiction ( Hodding et al., 1980 ). Increased stress levels developed within the family as the addict can no longer handle their responsibilities and leave them to the family.
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Then children in the family are also affected by the drug addiction of one of the family members. Children in the family have our influenced into using drugs. The family of the drug addict has been ripped apart due to the addict’s aggression towards the family members. The family loses respect for the addict. The family remains financially unstable as the sole breadwinner is no longer able to provide for them ( Lander et al., 2013 ). This leads to other underlying consequences such as parental grief and strained relationships within the family.
Finding out a member of the family is suffering from drug addiction can be traumatizing. The best way to deal with addiction in the family is to soberly and calmly approach the member suffering from addiction and encourage them to seek counseling and therapy.
References
Hodding, G. C., Jann, M., & Ackerman, I. P. (1980). Drug withdrawal syndromes: a literature review. Western Journal of Medicine , 133 (5), 383.
Lander, L., Howsare, J., & Byrne, M. (2013). The impact of substance use disorders on families and children: from theory to practice. Social work in public health , 28 (3-4), 194-205.
